A stronghold is your personal land holdings - the land you own, manage and (in some cases) rule over. It could be a wilderness domain patrolled by rangers, a traditional Barony, a city state or even a massive kingdom. It might be independent, semi-independent or part of a larger kingdom. The basic rules are still the same.

Your stronghold is defined by four key properties:

• Economy: Economy measures the productivity of your stronghold and the vibrancy of its trade, it represents money, labour and resources. Good strong businesses provide for a strong economy.
• Loyalty: Loyalty measures the way your citizens feel about you and your strong hold. You can develop loyalty by building the social infrastructure and public building that a town needs.
• Stability: Stability refers to the social well-being of a Stronghold, It comes from the legal system, religion and education..
• Defence: Defence measures how well your stronghold can defend itself. It includes town walls, regional patrols, local policing and is also used to measure the size of your army.

If you keep Economy, Loyalty and Stability in balance no more than one point difference as you build your stronghold things will probably go smoothly. If they get out of balance – The DM gets to roll on the ‘Bad Things happen to this Stronghold’ table.

Defence does not need to be in balance with the other three. However, a high defence score makes your stronghold easier to defend from marauding beasts, bandits, tribesmen – or opposing armies. It is also related to the titles and honours you can claim.

Some sorts of terrain are easier, and therefore cheaper, to develop than others. However, sometimes location - close to a major river, at a cross roads, on top of a seam of gold - might be more important than the absolute cost to develop the land.

• Plains are by far the easiest, cheapest and most flexible terrain.
• Hills and Forests are less flexible and slightly more expensive.
• Mountains, Wetlands, Caverns, Jungles and Deserts are the most difficult.
• Water such as rivers or lakes add flexibility to all terrain types.

Having seen the lay of the land, you should consider how you are going to communicate with the outside world - what Transport Links will you need?

Once you have decided where you want to build, you need to Claim the Land.

There are three different phases of Stronghold development.

Most land start out as Wilderness and there a number of ways that you can develop wilderness land without changing it too much. Natural Wilderness has no developments at all and doesn't really count as part of your stronghold. Managed Wilderness has next to no developments but is patrolled by your troops, to control monsters, barbarians or humanoid tribes, and can count as part of your stronghold. Semi-wilderness has a few nature friendly developments, and might form the centrepiece of a Druid/Ranger stronghold or the starting place for further development.

• Wilderness Developments

Rural land can be developed from wilderness, and provides the natural resources that your stronghold needs to survive and grow. It could have a combination of village, farms, ranches, mines, fisheries or Logging operations. A village is a good starting point for building a town or city.

• Rural Developments

Urban developments are the most developed areas – it includes towns, cities and the hinterland that surround them.

• Urban Developments
  • Urban Civic Developments List
  • Urban Military Developments List
  • Urban District Upgrades
  • Urban Hinterland Developments

Costs Economy 700, Loyalty 500, stability 600, Minor 500 + 200, Med 1500 + 500, Major 3000 + 1500 (first cost for first item plus second cost for (per unit) for subsequent items.) Defence 1000.

Trade is good for any settlement - it brings in extra goods, new people, new ideas and boosts your economy generally. Because the benefits are reciprocal (both ends benefit) it means the people might be less aggressive towards you.

You benefit if your Stronghold, Town or City is connected to a external trade route (This means a merchant house with a local, town or city base in your stronghold, and a base in an external settlement. In Midmarch that means New Stetven, Restov, Mivon or Fort Drelev) you benefit. Benefit = Consumption -1.

Every Town or City Base brings benefits to Economy, Stability and Loyalty as well - although they are recorded against the merchant rather than the town. However, the town benefits from extra taxes, while the Loyalty and Stability benefits cancel out the effects of the economic gains without taking up space in the district.

• Stewardship
• Process

• noble_titles
• Standard of Living